Monday, October 02, 2006

Another Goner Fest has come to an end. I think I can safely say that everything went pretty smoothly. I had fun taking pictures all weekend and listening to everyone's conversations as they waited in line for the bathroom outside the office. I was truly enlightened and entertained. I met a bunch of cool people, heard some great music and got ridiculously wasted every night. But I guess that was kind of the point, right?

So, many thanks to Eric and Zak for letting me partake in this little blog experiment and for putting together such a great weekend for all of us. Word on the street is that the next gathering will be in Austin in March at SXSW. See ya there.

P.S. I still have one more post to makie - to upload the Hipshakes video - I haven't looked at the footage or checked the sound, so it may suck - but it should be up by this afternoon...

So, of course after I made huge deal about Viva L'American Death Ray Saturday night, Jack Yarber comes out and finishes off the festivities with an incredible set that certainly gave Viva a run for best performance. How can you not be great with Harlan on bass, Paul on drums, and that other guy on piano (Editor's Note: Adam !). They played old stuff, they played new stuff, they played great stuff! I talked to Jack about the set afterwards and then promptly forgot everything we talked about. Damn you, PBR!

They're all going on tour in Europe for 6 weeks in mid-October - who wants to go?

Bill & Lisa started Cococoma as a duo. Then they asked Mike to play keyboards. He said "sure", and then there were three. Bill and Lisa are happily married. Mike just got married. Lisa & Mike also play in Headache City (drums & guitar, respectively). Bill & Mike also play in The Latest (drums & bass, respectively). Both bands are great - you should check 'em out. Seriously.

It was officially over yesterday afternoon, the moment Eric made the concluding anouncements and turned off the P.A. at Goner. It wasn't really over yet, though. There were after-parties, dinners, runs to the beer cave, all manner of folks still hanging out. My buddy Joe came in around 3:00 this morning. I know, because I was still up, loading music from the shows (and I'm still not done - a lot of stuff to sift through after recording 26 bands in under 72 hours).But it's over. For real. Which isn't to say that the weekend hasn't been on my mind this morning. I mean, really. I'm at work, and what am I doing? Writing about this weekend, still. I guess it's just that there's so much to say.Things like previously-mentioned-Joe getting the cops called on him by my crazy geriatric neighbors (he was in his car, in front of my house, waiting for me to come home from work early, Thursday) prior to the G'fest even starting. Things like a thrilling and much needed surprise Jack Pirtle's Country Fried Steak sandwich with pickles and slaw from Windy. Things like making inebriated, silly and generally wrong (on my part) analogies and arguments about French/American history with Lauren in the parking lot of the Hi-Tone at 4:00 in the morning; this, incidentally transpired because I was trapped by Cheveau's rental car...So much stuff to contemplate and distract me from doing "work". Perfect (for me) moments where I got to get off the board (both sound board and message board) and shake my ass for a second. I think my favorite was with the Brand New Love Affairs at the Buccaneer. It ended up being a pretty important deal. Not for the fact that this was a trans-continental band playing together for the first time, not because it was the debut of what could become a really phenomenal band with a lot of weight and relevance. Nope. It's something more simple, and it's sheer magnitude may only be shared by me and my good friend Talbot. A little bit of history here, Brand New Love Affairs has Scott Rogers, Tyler Keith, Jack Yarber and a german dude named Roman. Now, Scott and Tyler played last year in a band with Talbot called "The Jenny Jeans". Scott also plays in another band called "The Dutch Masters". Talbot used to play bass in the original line-up of the Dutch Masters, and I used to record both bands back in the day. I know almost all there songs. Since then, I now play bass for the Dutch Masters and Talbot leads "The Black and Whites". Y'all caught up yet? The Memphis musician scene is and always has been an incestuous one. So, long story, short, Brand New Love Affairs kicked out an old Song from the Jenny Jeans. Not too many folks knew the words, because the Jenny Jeans never actually released anything prior to eventually calling it quits. But I knew the song. It was one of my favorites. I jumped up from the gear where Kyle and I were recording an sprinted over people to get up front. Who was there? Talbot. Everybody was dancing there asses off, and Talbot and I were shouting the lyrics at the top of our lungs. Good times.

Everyone who said they were leaving Memphis early seems to be hanging around.... hmmm... not easy to leave this place, huh?

I have a couple pictures to share...

Brand New Love Affairs the new Scott Rogers project.... killed at the Buc yesterday.... here they are from a Wednesday afternoon rehearsal where even though they sounded good, did not even hint at how great they are....

Later on the same day that the Brand New Love Affairs pictures were taken, I spied the Viva L'American Death Ray guys on their way to practice....

I know you have seen far too many of the wacky experimental pix that Nick and I took in NYC.... and Harlan, as photogenic as he is, doesn't like to be photographed.... so here is Death Ray's Jeff Bouck, a good sport at my particular brand of hunting...

Oh and how the Death Ray killed both on their Tuesday night show at the Buc and last night at the Hi Tone....

I do not really take live pix anymore, but I battled the crowd of people taller than me to take pix of Death Ray and of Jack Oblivian... coming soon.

Now... its time to eat and drink and hope that I can sneak a Harlan picture while he is here at the store and hopefully not noticing the camera.....

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Not half an hour ago I was discussing the merits of Memphis music with JB of Noise Choir when I was approached by a man named Goiche (sp?) and told that he had traveled from Japan for Goner Fest and that he reads my website everyday. Color me flattered! He was hanging out with my favorite drummer in Memphis John Argroves. I would mention John's bands, but I don't think I have enough room. Goiche was incredibly nice and then he told me he really wanted to meet Jack Oblivian, a request that I could not refuse.

On my way to the Hitone tonight I saw Harlan walking toward the club on Tucker. I thought about offering him a ride, but I had a pretty good feeling that he would decline. I called Nick Ray last week, because I wanted to write a story about Viva and the new album for the paper. He never returned my call. It's all good, I'm at peace with the fact that everyone in Viva are ridiculously more cool than me. It's not news, and they proved exactly why tonight. They put on the best performance I have seen all weekend. The word "tight" does not do them justice. Transcendental is not an overstatement. Being in a room with greatness is a blessing. By the crowd's reaction, I know I am not alone in this opinion. Jack Stands and I even bonded a little bit over the awesomeness. That's the great thing about music. That's why I do what I do

If you don't listen to any other recording of the weekend that Jack and Luke are outting together - listen to Viva L'American Death Ray Music. And I dare you to tell me I am wrong.

I wish I could write a retarded crazy post about how great the Royal Pendletons were last night, but I'm just not that talented. I guess all these other bloggers are gonna chime in after the weekend is over, so be sure to check back for their reviews and impressions of all the bands. I haven't heard a bad word said about any performance yet. I did just hear Theresa K. give Jay Reatard a lecture outside the office about the benefits of drinking one glass of water between every vodka drink. Sounds kind of counter-productive to me, but hey, her heart is in the right place.

Sometime around 1:30 AM last night, even though I had the best of intentions, this whole liveblogging thing kind of got lost by the wayside. Maybe it was the the six beers and two shots, maybe it was the groundshaking grooves the Royal Pendletons laid down for the crowd. Whatever it was it sent me into a tizzy and I had to go dance it off at Murphy's. Then it was on to the Armory for Mr Quinn Powers' birthday party and peformances from The Guacos, Evil Army and some other band whose name I've already forgotten. All I know is that I didn't make home until after 10 AM this morning. Which obviously meant there was no ways I was going to make it to The Buc. My only regret is missing the Final Solutions earlier. Luckily, Windy Mayes was in the house and I am quite sure her pictures will be a million times better than mine.

man, I haven't slept in about 30 hours. I left the hi-tone and had a ten hour conversation with a frisbee...... he wouldn't divulge any secrets about how to fly. I finally ended up throwing him into the mississippi, then I cried for two hours about it. anyway, the show was great last night. I learned goners love to do the chicken dance, more than anything else in the world.

Friday, September 29, 2006

From Agony Shorthand:Perhaps the best 45 of 2005 that we didnt write anything about was the ANGRY ANGLES Things Are Moving EP particularly the title track. This Tennessee boy/girl twosome and their pals are roughly approximate to a punked-up, spazzed-out SCREAMERS, MISSION OF BURMA or URINALS, even taking the Urinals hollow, blank-eye guitar sound to new vistas. This brand new single is their best to date. Apparent-Transparent is a frantic art punker with dueling male/female vocals, much like that NERVOUS PATTERNS 45 we loved so much a year ago, and who not coincidentally share a bedrock member with the Angry Angles. You Fell In is a subdued version of the same, and their cover of The 15th from WIREs 154 is a beautiful thing to behold, immediately going on my best covers list and certainly the best Wire cover since the TYRADES nailed Former Airline. With this sort of progress from release to release I can imagine any forthcoming LP is going to be among the hottest releases this year. So whens it going to be, gang??